Yesterday we heard one of the most exciting sounds to us, the kind that arrests our attention, brings an instant smile of joy and skip of the heart: it was the in-drawn audible gasp of delight of a five-year-old boy in our library. He had spotted a book he had never read by an author he loves and he was rapturous.… Read More How Can I Get my Child to Read?
If you’ve read a lot of books, you’ve met a lot of characters. Some of the people we get to know in books remain with us for life, fond memories. The examples they set for us often are just as influential as some living people we’ve known. When I mention “Marmee,” do you know right off who I… Read More Famous Mothers I Have Known
If you enjoy reading, or would like to, you might find yourself pulling books off your shelf, checking them out from the library, or borrowing them from friends and setting them on the bedside table with the best intentions of reading them. If your life is even a little like mine, your days are packed and by the time… Read More Guilt Piling Up on the Nightstand
“I always thought that libraries were repositories of all the best in literature that had ever been written,” my friend Michelle Miller shared, “but then I started noticing that a lot of the good old books just weren’t there anymore.” She began doing a little detective work about their mysterious disappearance. Before disclosing her findings,… Read More So Where Have All the Good Books Gone?
Sometimes children have trouble with reading and sometimes their parents do. Today’s parents are the first generation who do not remember life without televisions and computers. This is partly responsible for a decline in reading in general, and the kinds of books we read in particular. It is encouraging that so many parents today still… Read More Trouble with Reading
Several years ago at a workshop Emily and I were holding on Charlotte Mason’s method of education, we were addressing her way of teaching the Bible. A mother who was there shared a revelation she had recently had while reading a biography of the poet, William Blake, to her children. It dawned on her suddenly as she read of… Read More A Book for Good Friday
I’ve been discussing the differences between old books and new books. Let me defend myself at the outset by saying that I do not have an attachment to old things just because they’re old. I have owned my share of antiques in the past, but like new furnishings as well. We have driven many old cars, but there’s nothing… Read More Is New Always Better?
Who doesn’t love a good story? It’s almost like saying, “Are people human?” to ask that question. It’s part of the way we’re made, to love stories. You may not remember the time and date of an appointment, but you will remember the story your friend had to share. You may not remember the text of the sermon, but… Read More Tell Me a Story
Do you remember your first trip to the library? When I was a child, libraries were hushed places. This lent an air of hallowedness to the whole visit. Woe be to the child who became the object of a stern librarian’s admonition for silence. A dropped book was a thunderclap to be avoided at all… Read More Can a Library Last Forever?
Emily and I are currently attending the South East Homeschool Convention in Greenville, doing a little book shopping, of course, and helping friends to sell the precious books we love. I make this qualification because we do have a special passion for them. When we attend these events, we meet all kinds of homeschool families with every variety of… Read More Are You a Listless Homeschooler?